


Blood Is Thicker Than Water (But So Is Mercury)

by Pain_thats_it_thats_the_fic (Pippythewriter), Pippythewriter



Series: Everyday People [1]
Category: Boy Meets World
Genre: Alan Matthews & Shawn Hunter, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Characters to be added, Child Abuse, Epic Friendship, Eventual Happy Ending, Found Family, Gen, I don't know, I was new to writing when I started this, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No doubt unrealistic depictions of all sorts of things, Surprise cameo of character we know and love in chapter 11!, Tags to be added, Uncle Mike & Shawn Hunter, Uncle Mike - Freeform, how is that not a tag?!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24729976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippythewriter/pseuds/Pain_thats_it_thats_the_fic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippythewriter/pseuds/Pippythewriter
Summary: Family is complicated and messy. Blood or not, and relationships between family members often look completely different from the outside. This the case with Shawn Hunter and his Dad, Chet Hunter. On the surface their relationship seems cut and dry, a poor helpless trailer park kid and his deadbeat dad. But there's more than meets the eye.(Please forgive the terrible summary, I promise it's better than it's sounds.)
Relationships: Alan Matthews/Amy Matthews, Cory Matthews & Shawn Hunter, Topanga Lawrence-Matthews/Cory Matthews
Series: Everyday People [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788118
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	1. A Knock On The Door

**Author's Note:**

> This story is seems cute and fluffy(ish) at first, but don't be fooled, the tags are there for a reason (and will be updated as this continues). Please do not read if any of the above tags trigger you! Otherwise please enjoy the story and have a wonderful day ! :)  
> (Also, yes, I have an OC main in this. But fun fact, if you pay attention she technically exists in canon ;)

June 3, 1985  
Beverly was laying out on the couch, about to take a nap, when there was a knock on the door. Darnell looks up from his newspaper.

"Would you mind getting the door Darnell? I have my hands full." Martha Johnson asked her husband.

"Yes dear." He responds, getting up and opening the door, revealing a little boy with a mop of brown hair and blue eyes. "Who might you be?"

"Shawn Hunter, I came here 'cause of the ad at the community center for a babysitter." The boy, Shawn, replied.

"Beverly! There's a young man at the door for you!" Darnell called. Beverly groaned, got up, and went to the door. "I'll go see if Martha needs help in the kitchen."

"What do you want?" Beverly asks testily, and immediately regrets it when Shawn flinches. "Sorry." She says. Shawn shrugs.

"S'okay, I was coming here 'cause of your ad. Dad's been busy and Virna naps all the time, so I thought maybe I could follow you around during the day." Shawn explains, Beverly's expression softens.

"Is Virna your Mom?" She asks.

"Nah, my Mom left right after I was born." Shawn shrugs it off, acting like he doesn't care. "I can pay you 2 dollars a week if that's okay, I understand if it's not enough."

"Well, if you don't mind going with me on other jobs that won't be a problem." She offers. Shawn's eyes light up, and a hopeful smile appears on his face.

"Really? That'd be great!" He says excitedly. Beverly smiles.

"Where do you live?" She asks. A slightly panicked expression crosses Shawn's face, barely noticeable, but Beverly sees it. "Is there somewhere you'd rather have me pick you up?" She offers, Shawn relaxes.

"Do you know where Seltzer park is?" Shawn asks.

"Yeah, what time do you want me to come there? " She asks.

"Is 8 okay?" He asks.

"8 is fine. Oh! Wait, how old are you?" She asks.

"5 and a half." He answers. "I guess I should head home." He states reluctantly, scuffing his shoes.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Beverly says.

"See you tomorrow, bye." Shawn says.

"Bye." Beverly replies, shutting the door, and leans against it, thinking. 

The door shuts behind Shawn, and he flinches and sighs. He runs the path to the Pink Flamingo trailer park and reaches the trailer with 'Hunters' spelled out on the side. He tries to slip in quietly, but still wakes his father, Chet Hunter, up. 'Please don't be drunk, please don't be drunk, please don't be drunk.', Shawn pleads silently, but it's clear when he wakes up that he is, unfortunately, drunk.

"Where have you been?!" He yells, Shawn stops, frozen with fear. This makes Chet angry. "Answer me boy!"

"I w-was at the community center, and I-" Shawn gets cut off by a slap in the face from Chet. He brings his hand up to the cheek that was hit, tears in his eyes.

"ARE YOU CRYING?!" Chet yells, Shawn starts shaking.

"N-No Sir." Shawn stutters, terrified, and is slapped again.

"Don't lie to me boy! Now what did I tell you 'bout cryin'?" Chet asks.

"N-Not to." Shawn stutters.

"And why?" Chet asks/screams.

"Hunters n-never cry." Shawn replies, shaking even more, Chet grabs him by the shirt.

"Hunters never cry what?" Chet demands.

"Hunters never cry s-sir." Shawn replies. Chet lets go.

"That's right, now go in your room. No dinner tonight we're out of groceries." Chet commands. Shawn nods, and hurries to his 'room' (which would charitably be called a closet) and shuts the door before anything else can happen. He collapses onto the blanket on the floor, sobbing into his pillow, crying himself to sleep, hoping that tomorrow will be better than today.


	2. Babysitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting the next chapter, because I have no patience whatsoever. Happy reading :)
> 
> Fyi, the first 13 chapters are already written (I know 54 chapters is a lot, but please bear with me. As you can see they're not very long)

June 4, 1985  
Beverly takes her rusty bike to Seltzer park and arrives five minutes early. She figures Shawn isn't at the park yet, and sits down on a bench, not noticing the small figure curled up next to her, until it moves and sits up. Beverly startles, until she realizes that the figure is Shawn. "Shawn! Why are you sleeping on a bench?" She exclaims, and Shawn rubs his eyes. He couldn't take Chet and Virna's very loud arguing anymore, and he went to the park at about 2:30 in the morning, and fell asleep on the bench, but he's not about to tell her that, so he shrugs.

"I got here early and fell asleep." Not exactly a lie, but not really the truth either. "Where are we going today?"

"Have you eaten yet?" Beverly asks. 'Food', Shawn thinks. He hasn't eaten since they gave out free snacks at the community center yesterday. He shakes his head. "You wanna grab something at the 7 eleven?"

"Can you afford it?" Shawn asks, and Beverly smiles, slightly amused.

"Don't worry about it. Let's go." She replies, holding out her hand. Shawn hesitates before taking it, and they walk to the store. "Okay, I'm going to get a coffee and a honey bun. What do you want?"

"What can I get?" Shawn asks.

"Anything, within reason. You can look around while I get my coffee, if you want." She answers.

"Okay." Shawn agrees eagerly, and Beverly shakes her head in amusement. 'If only all kids were this easy to please.' Beverly thinks, remembering a particularly difficult babysitting job...

'Flashback'  
"Well, I think we're all set. Emergency contacts are posted on the message board, and there are leftovers in the refrigerator. We'll be back by 8." Adalard Rothstein tells Beverly.

"Goodnight Muma, Pupa." Molly and Carlene reply cordially. 'What are these kids? Robots?' Beverly wonders.

"Goodnight children, goodnight Beverly." Ludmilla Rothstein tells her kids, and Adalard and Ludmilla leave.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Beverly asks.

"Make us hot cocoa!" Molly demands, and Beverly raises an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" Beverly asks, incredulous.

"Are you deaf? She told you to make us hot cocoa." Carlene replies, Beverly crosses her arms. 'I don't believe this!' Beverly thinks to herself.

"With marshmallows!" Molly adds.

"Yeah, now! Or else we'll tell Muma and Pupa that you're a bad babysitter." Carlene threatens. 'I can't afford to lose this job.' Beverly reminds herself, swallowing her pride, and makes them hot cocoa.

'Later'  
"Beverly! Molly broke my tiara!" Carlene screams, Beverly rubs her temples, 'Oh joy.'

"Molly, did you break Carlene's tiara?" Beverly asks tiredly. Molly nods guiltily. "Say you're sorry Molly."

"I'm sorry Carlene." Molly states, half-heartedly.

"Now hug each other." Beverly tells them.

"But you have to buy me a new one!" Carlene demands. Beverly scoffs.

"Heck no I don't!" Beverly states. Before Carlene can reply, the door is unlocked and opened. 'Thank goodness!' Beverly exclaims in her head.

"We're home!" Ludmilla exclaims, and the kids go running to their parents.

"Pupa! Molly broke my tiara and Beverly won't buy me a new one!" Carlene whines.

"I'm sure there's just been a misunderstanding." Adalard explains.

"No, that's exactly what happened." Beverly states.

"Well, since you refuse to pay for a new one, we won't be able to pay you." He replies.

"What?!" Beverly exclaims.

"Well, it did happen on your watch." Ludmilla states.

"That does it! I made their hot cocoa, I watched ten episodes in a row of Mr Rogers, and this is how you repay me?! I quit!" Beverly shouts, and storms out.  
'End Flashback'

Beverly returns her mind to the present, makes her coffee, grabs a honey bun, takes them both to the checkout counter, and sets them down. Shawn comes up to her.

"Can I get this?" Shawn asks, holding up an oatmeal cream pie. Beverly smiles.

"Sure." She says, and he sets it on the checkout counter.

"Will that be all?" The cashier asks.

"Yes." She replies, and pays for the things. She grabs her coffee and honeybun, and hands Shawn his oatmeal cream pie. Shawn smiles at her.

"Thank you." Shawn tells her. 

"No problem kid." Maybe babysitting won't be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. As previously stated, comments are appreciated, but so are kudos and hits. If you're anything like me and your brain shuts down whenever you try to think of something to say, I understand, and appreciate your reading. Have a good day! :)


	3. Bruises and Burglary

Beverly and Shawn are sitting on a park bench eating their breakfast when Beverly finally gets a good look at Shawn's face, and notices the bruises.

"Shawn, what happened to your face?" Beverly asks, concerned. Shawn mentally panics.

"What are you talking about?" Shawn asks. If Beverly didn't have herself trained to hear and see what people weren't saying, she might not have noticed the fear in Shawn's eyes and voice, but she does.

"Your cheek, it's covered in bruises." Beverly says. 'Please don't let this be what I think it is.' She thinks to herself.

'Flashback'  
October 27, 1980  
"Beverly, what happened to your wrist?" Her teacher, Melissa Robertson asked, concerned. 

"I um, shut it in the car door." Beverly lies. 'My stepfather grabbed it.' Beverly thinks to herself.  
'End Flashback' 

"Oh, that. It was dark out when I went home and I ran into a tree." Shawn says, and just like that, the walls are back up.

"That must have hurt." Beverly says, deciding to play along for now. 'Knowing how I was, he's not going to admit to anything this soon after we've met. Of course, I still haven't told anyone what happened, except mom...' Beverly thinks, worried that Shawn will never admit to whatever's going on. She's only just met him, but she already cares a lot about him, and would probably deck whoever did this to him, no matter the consequences. Beverly's brought out of her thoughts by Shawn talking.

"It wasn't that bad, it looks worse than it is." Shawn shrugs it off.

"Does this happen often? 'Running into trees?'" Beverly asks, while silently letting him know that she's 'got his number'. Shawn looks down at his shoes, and Beverly knows he heard what she wasn't saying. Shawn nods. "You know, if you didn't live where you did, you wouldn't have to worry about... running into trees." She says, and Shawn looks up, realizing what she's implying.

"I can't leave." He states in a hushed tone.

"Why?" Beverly asks gently. Shawn starts staring at his shoes again.

"Virna's pregnant." Shawn says.

"What? How far along is she?" Beverly asks, now concerned not only for Shawn, but for the baby too.

"3 months." He says, and there's a tense silence. Shawn breaks it. "You can't tell anyone."

"Okay, but I have a few conditions. One, if you 'ever', and I mean ever, even if it's in the middle of the night, feel like you can't handle it, you come straight to me and you'll have a safe place to stay. I don't want you sleeping on park benches where someone could easily kidnap you. And two, if it ever gets to the point where it's dangerous for you to stay there, I will personally make sure that you and your half brother or sister are taken out of there, I understand if you're afraid of being in foster care which brings me to number 3," Beverly sighs. "If you ever want to turn him in, I'll do everything I can to make it so you and your sibling can come live with me and the Johnsons." At this Shawn looks up, shocked.

"You'd do that for me?" He asks with heartbreaking confusion. Beverly smiles reassuringly.

"I'll figure something out." She promises, Shawn returns the smile hesitantly. "Okay, I have a job downtown that we need to get to, let's go."

'9 hours later'  
Beverly and Shawn walk back to the park, and Shawn looks to Beverly. "Today was good. Thank you." Shawn tells her. Beverly kneels down and hugs him, her heart breaking when he doesn't know what to do.

"It was my pleasure. Remember what I said, okay?" She asks, and Shawn nods. "Good." She says, and they walk over to where she parked her bike, but it isn't there. "Someone stole my bike! I can't believe it, who would want that rusty piece of junk?"

"A junkyard owner?" Shawn suggests, and Beverly can't help but chuckle.

"Well, I guess I'm walking home then." She states, resigned.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Shawn offers, and she smiles.

"Nah, I'll be fine." Beverly says.

"Okay, bye." Shawn says.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Beverly states, and they part ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers (if anyone reads this)! Thank you so much for bearing with me through the beginning of this story! A lot of this was written when I was a more inexperienced writer, so some of the earlier chapters may be a little clunky. It gets better as it goes along (for me at least, hopefully it does for you too).


	4. Best Friends Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lifelong bond is formed :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should be the last chapter today. But hopefully it's worth it, because we finally get to meet another beloved BMW character in this 'verse :)

June 11, 1985  
Beverly and Shawn met at the park and went through their morning routine of breakfast from the 7eleven. Since last week they'd started hanging out at the park after breakfast until Beverly's first job of the day, and today was no exception. They sat on 'their bench', and finished breakfast. "You done?" Beverly asks Shawn, he nods. "Then let's head to the playground." She states and they walk to the playground. Beverly sees a young woman laid out on a blanket near the swing set.

"Can I go swing?" Shawn asks.

"Sure," Beverly answers, looking over at the woman. "I'll catch up with you." She tells him. Shawn shrugs and heads over to the swings.

"Hello, is that little boy your brother?" The woman asks.

"What?" Beverly replies, startled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I asked if the boy you're with is your brother. I'm here with my youngest son, I think he's about the same age. I'm Amy Matthews, would you like to sit down?" Amy asks, and Beverly sits down hesitantly.

"Um, no, he's not my brother, he's... I'm babysitting him. His name's Shawn Hunter, he's 5 and a half. My name is Beverly Miller." Beverly tells her, Amy smiles reassuringly.

"I thought he was around that age, is he going to start kindergarten at Jefferson elementary school in September? That's where Cory, my second son, I have two and a daughter on the way, is going to be starting school." Amy tells her.

"I think so, who knows, maybe Cory and Shawn will become friends." Beverly wonders.

Meanwhile, Shawn is at the swing set, and stands next to a swing next to a boy about his age with curly brown hair and brown eyes. "Can I sit here?" Shawn asks, and the other boy smiles at him.

"Sure! My name is Cory Matthews, what's yours?" Cory asks, Shawn sits down next to him.

"Shawn Hunter." Shawn states, and gets an idea. "Hey, you wanna have a swinging contest?"

"Sure!" Cory exclaims, and they start swinging. They get higher and higher, and in the end Cory wins. Shawn jumps from the swing and lands on his feet. "Hey, I wanna do that!" Cory however...

"I mean, I love my mom, but I just couldn't stay there anymore." Beverly states, in tears.

"Honey, it's not your fault. I'm sure -" Amy is cut off by a loud scream coming from the swing set. Amy and Beverly look at each other and run towards the screaming.  
\---  
Beverly was sitting patiently in the waiting room of the children's hospital emergency room next to Shawn, who was also sitting and waiting... not so patiently.

"When are they gonna be back?" Shawn asks, tapping his feet impatiently.

"I'm sure Mrs. Matthews will be back soon-" The door opens to reveal Mrs Matthews. 

"Cory's fine, the doctor said he just has a mild fracture in his left ankle. He'll have to wear a cast for 6-8 weeks, and use crutches, but thankfully he'll be okay." Mrs Matthews states, the relief evident in her voice.

"Well that's good, how are you?" Beverly asks.

"I'm fine now that I know that Cory's okay." Amy replies.

"Can I see him?" Shawn asks.

"Well actually they're going to let me take him home in a couple of minutes but, you could come to our house to visit, if it's okay with Beverly." Amy offers. Shawn's eyes light up and he looks to Beverly.

"Can we?" Shawn asks, and Beverly smiles.

"That would be nice, where do you live?" Beverly asks and Amy lists her address, and Beverly realizes that it's too far away to walk. "Oh, I'm sorry but we can't go."

"Why not?" Shawn asks.

"It's too far for us to walk, kiddo." Beverly answers.

"You can ride with us." Mrs Matthews states.

"I don't want to put you out." Beverly replies.

"Oh, you wouldn't be putting us out. I don't get out much these days, it'll be so nice to have company." Mrs Matthews states warmly, smiling. Beverly smiles back hesitantly.

"Okay, if you insist." Beverly accepts, and they make their way to Cory, just in time to see him trying (and failing) to use his crutches.

"Here," Shawn starts, handing the crutches to Beverly, and putting Cory's arm over his shoulders, helping him up. "I'll help you to the car."

"Thanks." Cory says, thinking. "You know, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship." Cory states, smiling goofily. Shawn returns it. They had yet to realize how true those words would be...

'Flashforward'  
June 11th, 2005  
Cory sits down on his couch, opens his laptop, and calls Shawn on Skype.

"Hey Cory, how are Elliot, Riley and Topanga?" Shawn asks.

"Well Topanga's fine, she's at the firm right now, and I just put Riley and Elliott down for naps. So what are you doing today, anything special?" Cory asks.

"No, why? Are 'you' doing something special?" Shawn asks.

"No, nothing... are you sure?" Cory asks.

"Okay, what's so special about today Cor?" Shawn asks.

"It's our twentieth anniversary, you maroon! How could you forget?!" Cory exclaims.

"Oh yeah, it is isn't it." Shawn states nonchalantly.

"Did you hear me? It's our twentieth, how are you not freaking out right now?" Cory asks.

"Open your door, Cory." Shawn commands.

"What? Why?" Cory asks.

"Just do it, Cor." Shawn states, and Cory opens the door, revealing a smiling Shawn.

"Shawnie!" Cory exclaims, engulfing Shawn in a massive bear hug. Cory and Shawn Best Friends Forever.


	5. Tippy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back?! I finally got my email back and now I can start posting again yaaaay! Anyway, please stay tuned cuz I'm making up for lost time. Enjoy :)

August 13, 1985

Amy, Beverly, Eric, Cory, and Shawn are all at Seltzer park. The boys are playing with a soccer ball (Eric vs. Cory and Shawn), and Beverly and Amy are sitting on a blanket at their usual place by the field where the boys are playing.

"You know, for someone who broke his ankle swinging two months ago, Cory's a pretty good soccer player." Beverly states, and Amy smiles.

"He was practicing all the time before the incident, so he'd be good by the time school started, he was so excited about it, it was killing him to stay inside all the time. He would have driven me insane, if it wasn't for Shawn coming everyday. Poor thing felt so guilty about him breaking his ankle." Amy says.

"Yeah Shawn's a sweet kid." Beverly states fondly. A young woman with curly red hair approaches them.

"Chloe! Would you like sit down with us?" Amy asks the woman, evidently named Chloe, and Chloe sits down on the blanket.

"I don't believe we've met, Chloe Lawrence." Chloe introduces herself to Beverly.

"Beverly Miller. How do you know each other?" Beverly asks.

"I have two daughters. Nebula is 9, and Topanga is Cory's age and we've sort of raised them together." Chloe explains, and Beverly's eyes light up.

"Topanga? Like, Topanga canyon? My mom grew up there." Beverly says excitedly.

"Really?" Chloe asks.

"Yeah, she always told me she'd take me there someday." Beverly gets a far away look in her eyes, but continues.

"How did you get the name?" "That's an interesting story, actually...(to hear the story of Topanga's name, watch Girl Meets World episode: Girl Meets 1961)"

_Meanwhile..._ The boys are playing soccer, when Cory sees something, and stops. Shawn runs up to him.

"What are you looking at?" Shawn asks. Cory points at a girl about their age with long dirty blond hair sitting with her eyes closed and her legs crossed in the field.

"Oh... who's she?"

"Topanga." Cory states, not taking his eyes of her. Shawn frowns.

"What on earth is she doing?" Shawn asks, Cory shrugs. Topanga opens her eyes, stands up, puts her hands on her hips, and looks right back at them, annoyed.

"It's rude to stare you know." She states, and Cory stares at his shoes, embarrassed.

"Sorry Topanga." Cory apologizes, and Topanga's gaze softens.

"That's okay, just don't do it again." Topanga says, and they stare at each other...

_Flashforward_

July 7, 1998

_Cory and Topanga are sitting at_ _a bench in Seltzer park, gazing at each other adoringly._

_"Topanga," Cory asks tentatively._

_"Yes Cory?" Topanga replies._

_"I love you." Cory states._

The moment is ruined by Eric, of course.

"Cory and Topanga sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Eric chants.

"Eric, stop." Cory states, embarrassed.

"First comes love," Eric continues to chant, ignoring Cory.

"Eric, I'm warning you." Cory threatens.

"Then comes- AH!," Eric gets cut off by Cory tackling him. Oh, the life of a five year old.


	6. Bedtime Stories

September 23, 1973

"Bedtime Beverly!" Alice Miller called to her 5 year old daughter.

"But Charlie gets to stay up till 8:30!" Beverly complains.

"And when you're 9 you'll get to stay up till 8:30, but for now you're 5 and you'll go to bed at 8." Alice replies.

"Fine." Beverly concedes, and crawls into bed. "Will you tell a bedtime story, mommy?"

"Of course dear, now let's see, how about the three little pigs?" Alice offered. Beverly shook her head.

"I've already heard that story, can you tell me a new one?" Beverly asks.

"Okay, once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a beautiful kingdom called Topanga canyon. She had two sisters, Lisa and Caroline. Topanga canyon was beautiful, with trees and valleys." Alice tells Beverly.

"Sounds amazing." Beverly yawns.

"It is. I'll take you there one day. Anyway, as I was," Alice continues, but stops when she realizes Beverly is asleep, and smiles. "Goodnight sweet heart." She says and kisses Beverly's forehead.


	7. Sober Week

Beverly hears a knock on the door and answers it. It's Shawn. "Shawn, what brings you here this fine evening?"

"I just wanted to tell you that it's sober week, so I won't be coming over till Wednesday." Shawn states, and is about to leave but Beverly stops him.

"Wait, why won't you be here again till Wednesday?" Beverly asks, confused.

"It's sober week." Shawn states like she should know what 'sober week' means.

"What's sober week?" Beverly asks.

"Every three months dad's sober for a week, that's why I call it sober week, and this week is it." Shawn explains like it's completely normal.

"Your dad's only sober for a week every three months?" Beverly states in disbelief.

"Yeah, he tells me he's sorry for drinking and that he loves me, and we go on a road trip, just me and him to make up for it, and when we get back he gets depressed and starts drinking again." Shawn explains, his eyes lighting up when he talks about Chet telling him he loves him and when he's talking about the road trip. Beverly, however-

"He only tells you he loves you for sober week?" She asks, getting upset.

"At least he tells me. Some kids in the trailer parks' parents don't tell them at all." Shawn shrugs.

* * *

"What do you say we go to Vermont this time, kiddo?" Chet asks Shawn with a smile. Shawn smiles back.

"Sounds great dad!" Shawn replies excitedly. Chet starts to pat Shawn's shoulder, but Shawn flinches involuntarily. Chet's face falls.

"Listen Slim Jim, I'm sorry for the drinking, the fighting, all of it." Chet tells Shawn.

"It's okay Dad." Shawn brushes it off.

"No, I'm sorry, I really am. I love you more than anything in this world, and things will be different this time, I promise." Chet apologizes.

"I know Dad, I understand." Shawn says, knowing that it won't last, but savoring the few days he has.

"Okay, let's hit the road." Chet says, and they get up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That feeling when, you read a fanfic you started writing when you were 15, 5 years ago. Ugh, I know I was just starting out back then but this feels SO wonky. At least I've improved? I think?
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading. This should get better as it goes and I would absolutely LOVE to hear from you. Have a good day and stay safe ❤


	8. Patricia

February 17, 1959

Patricia Anne Hunter was late. 3 months late, to be exact, and she was nervous to say the least.

"Adam, I need to talk to you." Patricia tells her husband.

"Sure Honey, what's on your mind?" Adam asks.

"I think I'm pregnant." She replies. Adam stares at her in shock.

"Say something" Adam shakes his head as if to clear his mind.

"Are you sure?" He asks.

"I'm pretty sure, yeah." She answers.

"Okay, well... I guess you should go to the doctor to make sure." He states, and rakes his hand through his hair.

"I agree, I made an appointment for tomorrow." She says.

* * *

"Well, I have the results of your pregnancy test right here," Dr. Schnobble states.

"And?" Patricia asks impatiently.

"You're pregnant." He answers.

"What?" Patricia asks, dazed.

"Congratulations." Dr. Schnobble says, and Patricia smiles.


	9. School days! School days!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the plot. Hooray!

September 3, 1985.

"Eric, Cory, time to get ready for school." Amy commands. Cory sits up and rubs his eyes but Eric remains asleep. Amy shakes his shoulder.

"Wake up honey, you don't want to miss the first day of school."

"Mom, we go through this every year. He'll wake up 5 minutes before we leave and he always gets ready in time to go, that's just the way it works." Cory states tiredly, Amy sighs.

"Fine. I'll make breakfast while you get dressed." Amy says.

"Okay Mom." Cory complies.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep! The watch alarm went off in Shawn's closet. He'd been kept awake all night by Chet and Virna's screaming and throwing things, and had just fallen asleep at 4. He almost went back to sleep, but remembered that he promised Cory he'd walk to school with him, so he got up and got dressed anyway. He quietly snuck out of his room to the kitchen.

There wasn't anything to eat for breakfast but an old granola bar. As he ate the granola bar he looked to see if he could find something for lunch. All he could find was a can of soup. _It'll have to do._ Shawn thought to himself. He put the can in his backpack and tries to get out the door without waking anyone up. The key word here, is tries.

"Shawn? Is that you?" Virna calls. _So close.'_ "I'm going to school." Shawn calls back.

"Okay honey, have fun." She says, and Shawn heads out the door.

* * *

Amy and Cory are eating cereal at the table, when Shawn knocks on the back door.

"Come in!" Amy calls and Shawn comes in.

"Have you had breakfast Shawn?"

"I had a granola bar." Shawn answers.

"That's not breakfast. Sit down and have some cereal." Amy commands. Shawn opens his mouth to protest, but Cory cuts him off.

"You'll never convince her." Cory tells him. Shawn takes off his backpack and sits down.

"Thank you Mrs. Matthews." Shawn says, and Amy sets a bowl of cereal in front of him.

"You're very welcome Shawn." Amy replies and they eat the rest of their breakfast in silence.

"Where's Eric?" Shawn asks.

"Oh, that reminds me, I need to wake him up." Amy states.

"I'll wake him up." Shawn offers, and before Amy can reply Shawn is going up the stairs with his backpack.

"What do you think he's gonna-" Cory's cut off by Eric running down the stairs in his pajamas.

"Mom! Shawn blasted an air horn in my ear!" Eric exclaims. Cory cracks up as Shawn comes down the stairs, acting like nothing happened.

"Eric, you need to hurry up and get dressed or we'll be late." Amy tells Eric. Eric starts to object, but decides it's not worth it, gets dressed, and eats breakfast.

"Okay, let's head out!" Amy states, and they all go out the door.


	10. Uncle Mike's Teaching Program

September 28, 1985

"Uncle Mike can you help me write a letter?" Shawn asks while he sits on Uncle Mike's workbench in the motorcycle repair shop.

"What do you need to write a letter for?" Uncle Mike asked.

"I want to write a letter to my brother Jack. I found his picture in the closet, and I found his address in the newspaper. He lives somewhere called New York." Shawn replies. Uncle Mike's eyes narrow.

"If you don't help me I'll just ask Beverly."

"Fine, I'll help. Now let's see, where did I put that notebook... Here it is. (tears out a piece of paper) Now let's get started." Uncle Mike knew that, in addition to every weekend when he would pay Shawn two dollars to help him in the shop, every few days Shawn would come to his shop and ask him to teach him something. Most of the time it was something to do with the bikes he worked on, sometimes it was something having to do with reading or writing. Sometimes it was during the day, sometimes it was in the middle of the night. This had been going on for a few months, but he never questioned it, that just wasn't the Hunter way-

'Flashback'

May 12, 1985 2:34 A.M.

"Uncle Mike, can you teach me the alphabet?" Shawn asks. Uncle Mike sits Shawn down on his knee.

"Why don't you ask Chet to do it?" Uncle Mike asks Shawn. Shawn looks down at his shoes.

"Dad's busy." Shawn replies.

Uncle Mike knew very well that Chet was not busy, but again, he didn't question it. He didn't question it... But that didn't mean that he wasn't suspicious.


	11. Father Figures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite of what I had written BY FAR, I still love how this turned out. This chapter should give you a better idea of where this is going, and it has a surprise ending that I won't spoil for you. Enjoy :)

October 19, 1985

Beverly and Shawn entered the Matthews' house through the kitchen door, where Alan and Cory were working on something at the table. Cory looked up.

"Shawnie!" Cory always greeted Shawn this way, ignoring Beverly and announcing Shawn's presence very loudly, ever since the day after Cory broke his ankle.

"Cory, do you want to go upstairs and play with Shawn?" Alan asks Cory with a tone that implies that he needs to talk with Beverly alone. Cory is completely oblivious, but Shawn notices the tone and panics, knowing exactly what he needs to talk to her about.

"Nah, that's fine Mr. Matthews, we'll just stay down here and keep you guys company." Shawn states, and Alan gives him a look.

"Shawn, Cory, go upstairs and play." Alan states sternly, and Shawn knows that he can't argue with him anymore, and they go upstairs.

"Beverly, I need to talk to you about something."

"I kinda got that by your tone." Beverly says, sitting down. "So, what do you need to talk about?"

"It's about Shawn, something happened last week, and I need to see if you know anything about it." Alan replies.

"Okay, hold on a minute." Beverly says, and walks over to the staircase.

"Shawn! Stop eavesdropping, or you're going to be in big trouble, and if you think I won't know, I'll remind you that Cory is afraid of me and can't lie, okay?" Beverly shouts.

"Okay." Shawn states reluctantly from the top of the staircase, and Beverly sits back down.

"You were saying?" Beverly urges.

"Okay, so Cory had a cold a little over a week ago," Alan starts.

"That's who Shawn got it from." Beverly states in realization. "Continue."

" And we hadn't seen Shawn in a couple of days,"

'FLASHBACK' October 14, 1985 4:22 A.M.

Amy and Alan were sound asleep, when they were woken up by screaming.

"Mom! Dad! There's someone in my bed!" They heard Cory scream. In the other room, Shawn was also woken up by Cory's screaming.

"Ah! He's sitting up, he's gonna get me! Hurry!"

"Cory, what are you doing?" Shawn asked, exhausted.

"Shawn? What are you doing in my bed? You usually wake me up when you come over here." Cory stated, confused.

Before Shawn can answer, Amy and Alan rushed into the room and turned on the lights.

"Don't worry Mom and Dad, it's just Shawn."

"Shawn? What are you doing here?" Alan asked.

"I tried knocking on the window, but you were out cold." Shawn said to Cory.

"Oh, sorry. How'd you get in here?" Cory asked casually, Amy was listening carefully, and Alan was getting more frustrated by the second.

"We would also like the answer to that question." Alan stated.

"I opened it with my pocket knife." Shawn stated tiredly.

"Shawn, I'm really trying to-" Alan started, but Amy cut him off.

"Sweetie, what happened to your eye?" Amy asked.

It turned out that Amy was the only one who noticed that Shawn's left eye was swollen shut, as Cory had fallen back asleep when Shawn answered his question, and Alan had been too confused and frustrated to pay attention, but all the frustration left him at Amy's words.

"Let's go downstairs and you can explain what's going on." Alan stated calmly, even though in his head he was afraid of what had happened. Shawn nodded resignedly, and they went downstairs.

Alan and Shawn sat at the table while Amy got an ice pack for Shawn's eye, and handed it to him.

"Thank you." Shawn said quietly, and held it to his eye.

"Okay, now tell us what happened." Alan stated calmly.

"I was looking for the tree next to Cory's window, and I ran into it." Shawn stated, a little shakily and paused. "On the bright side, I found it." Shawn joked nervously.

"Shawn, I think we both know that's not what really happened." Alan stated, getting mad, not at Shawn, but at the scum of the earth that decided to hit a six year old.

"It is what happened." Shawn stated outwardly calm, but inside he was terrified of what would happen if Alan found out what really happened.

Alan realized that he wouldn't get anything out of Shawn tonight, and changed the subject slightly. "Okay, then why are you here?" Alan asked patiently.

"I knew Cory was sick, and I came over to check on him." Shawn stated, knowing how ridiculous it sounded, but also knowing he couldn't come up with anything better with his head pounding like this.

"At 4 in the morning?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"It was 2 when I got here." Shawn said.

"Shawn, we're not mad at you, and I promise you that we will listen to you, and take your feelings into consideration. Now tell us the truth." Alan stated calmly, but firmly. Shawn mumbled something inaudibly. "What was that?"

"My dad and Virna were having a screaming match." Shawn stated, they heard it this time, but barely.

"How bad was it?" Amy asked, sitting down.

"They were throwing things at each other. I couldn't handle it anymore, so I took off... Are you mad?" Shawn asked, and Alan realized that the look on his face probably wasn't very reassuring, and tried to calm himself down.

"No, we're not." Alan answered, but Shawn gave him a look that said he didn't believe him so he quickly added: "Not at you anyway."

"Don't be mad at him, he didn't mean to." Shawn said, he didn't mean for them to hear him.

But Alan did.

'End Flashback'

"I don't think he meant for me to hear that last part, but Beverly, I need to know who 'he' is. Do you have any idea?" Alan asks.

"It's his dad. I'm almost positive." Beverly states, and Alan sighs, clenching his fists tightly.

"If you knew, then why didn't you call CPS?" Alan asks.

"Because they would have investigated his family and Shawn would just lie, and Chet would give him a beating just because Shawn didn't hide it better, then Shawn would push us away, and then what would happen to him? At least this way we can protect him to a certain point." Beverly answers, close to crying.

"Up to a certain point, yes. But we can only protect him so much." Alan replies.

"I know, but at least it's better than the alternative." Beverly says.

"I hate this." Alan says.

"I hate it too, trust me, I'd much rather have Chet behind bars and Shawn living with me." Beverly says.

"Did you tell him that?" Alan asks.

"Yes, the day I figured it out I made it very clear to him that he and his new brother or sister could come live with the Johnsons and I. And that he'll always have a place to go if he ever needs to escape." Beverly answers.

"We did too. I talked to Amy, and we agreed that Shawn could come live with us if necessary, and we told Cory that he could leave his window unlocked and told Shawn he's aloud to come and go as he pleases." Alan says.

"Good, I'm glad Shawn has a friend like Cory and a good father figure and mother figure like you guys." Beverly replies.

'Flashforward' February 1, 1996

"Can I take the blindfold off 'now'?" Beverly asks Johnathan Turner.

"Not yet, soon." John replies.

"You're gonna love the surprise mom!" Charlie Miller chimes in from the backseat.

"Why isn't Shawn riding with us anyway? Isn't he coming?" Beverly asks.

"Shawn and the Matthews are meeting us there. Here we are, you can take off the blindfold now." John says, Beverly does, and gets a confused look on her face.

"The school? This is where our big date is?" Beverly asks.

"Yup. Let's go in." John says, and they go in, and walk down the hall to the auditorium doors.

"They're putting on Annie?! Oh my goodness! How did you know it's my favorite?" Beverly asks and John tries to reply, but Charlie beats him to the punch.

"Shawn told him." Charlie says.

"That's my boy." Beverly smiles, and John hands the tickets to the ticket taker.

"Wait, aren't we going to wait for Shawn? He'll never admit it, but it's one of his favorites too."

"No, it's about to start, we can't miss anything." John says, and they go in (Beverly reluctantly), and sit down.

Beverly is surprised to see the Matthews already there, but no Shawn.

"Where's Shawn?" Beverly asks, worried, and John shushes her. "Don't you dare shush me, I just want to know where my kid is."

"I'm sure he's just getting programs, now be quiet, it's starting." John says, and a teacher, Mrs. Weathersby, walks to the microphone on the stage.

"Thank you all for coming, we have a very special program for you tonight. It's Annie, with a twist, most of the girl characters, are boys, and, rooster excluded, vice versa. This was the idea of our student assistant director, Topanga Lawrence, who will be continuing this introduction now." Mrs. Weathersby says, and Topanga switches places with her, adjusting the mic to her short height.

"Thank you Mrs. Weathersby. Now, before our program tonight, we have a real treat for you. Our lead in the play, our Andy, is going to play Tomorrow on his guitar, give a big hand for Shawn Hunter." Topanga says, and Beverly thinks she heard her wrong.

"Did she just say-" Beverly starts, and John grins at her.

"Yes, now watch." John says, and Shawn is now sitting down in front of the mic with his guitar.

"'The sun will come out, tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar that, tomorrow, there'll be sun'"

"Did you talk him into this?" Beverly asks.

"No, Topanga did. Shawn claims that she tricked him into it, but I could tell he was enjoying every minute of it." John says.

"I bet he did." Beverly says, and there's a pause before John speaks.

"He briefly quit." John says.

"Did you talk to him?" Beverly asks, concerned.

"Yeah I told him that he shouldn't give up." John says.

"You're a good father figure." Beverly says, smiling at John, and he returns it.

"I love you." John says.

"I love you too." Beverly says.

"Sh! I'm trying to listen." Charlie shushes them, and they turn back to Shawn. Beverly's crying by the end, and Beverly, John, Charlie, and the Matthews family give Shawn a standing ovation when he's done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist! Hopefully that clears up any confusion. Now the fun starts :)  
> If you're up to it I would LOVE some feedback! Regardless, thanks for reading and stay safe! Have a wonderful day ❤


	12. Cory Saw

November 9, 1985

Cory wasn't as oblivious as everyone would like to think, he knew that something was very wrong with Shawn's home life. Shawn came over to the Matthews' Saturday with a bruised wrist.

"Shawnie! You're- wait, what happened to your wrist?" Cory asks.

"I shut it in the truck door again, you know how clumsy I can be." Shawn says with a clearly fake smile.

Amy knew this from where she was sitting at the table, Alan had talked to her after his conversation with Beverly. Like Beverly and Alan, she hated what was going on, but she also knew that there wasn't anything they could do about it.

But what she didn't know was that Cory noticed it too. It seemed that everyone that was involved in young Shawn's life, including Cory, had figured out what was going on at home more or less on their own, but had each decided to trust Shawn to come to them on their own.

"Oh, okay. Let's go upstairs and play pong." Cory suggests.

"Yeah!" Shawn says, and they run upstairs.

They all wouldn't realize until much later how bad a decision that was.


	13. Charlie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a big one guys :)
> 
> Also, this is the last chapter I wrote before taking a break. Anything posted from this point on is brand new.
> 
> P.S. Please heed the following warnings!: mentions of past minor character death(s), mentions of past suicide of minor character, mention of abortion (didn't go through with it), mention of drinking while pregnant (minor character), mention of child abandonment. All of these warnings are contained to one short conversation that can easily be skipped and all of this takes place off-screen and in the past by minor characters. But just in case there they are. If you still want to read this, stop reading at the *, and continue after the second *. Thank you :)

December 26, 1985

Beverly was asleep with her head on her desk in her nursing class. Behind her sat a woman in her mid-thirties named Madison Hall, she would soon become a dear friend of Beverly's, giving her advice on how to take care of children with special needs, but Beverly did not yet know this.

"Beverly. Beverly wake up."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Beverly whispered, and Madison gave a slight chuckle.

"Alright, that will conclude today's class. If you have any questions you may ask them tomorrow, because I'm late for an appointment." The teacher dismisses the class, and everyone stands up. Madison approaches Beverly.

"Have a rough night?" Madison asks.

"You have no idea." Beverly replies.

"You want to talk about it?" Madison asks.

"Yeah, actually. You want to have lunch?" Beverly asks.

"Where?" Madison asks.

"McDonalds, it's all I can afford." Beverly says.

"Me too. I'll drive you. I have a bike rack on my car so I can even drop you off at home too." Madison offers.

"Really? That would be great. I was kind of afraid of what would happened if I tried to ride my bike home." Beverly says.

"No problem." Madison says. Beverly attaches her bike onto Madison's bike rack and they get into the car.

The ride to McDonalds is silent and when they get there Madison puts the car into park. They get out of the car and go inside. They order their food, pick it up, and sit down.

"Okay, we've got our food, now spill." Madison says, eating a french fry. Beverly sighs.

"So I've got this kid that I babysit for, his name is Shawn Hunter." Beverly starts.

"Oh I know Shawn! He's in my daughter's class." Madison says.

"Really?" Beverly asks.

"Yeah poor kid looks like he hardly ever eats." Madison says.

"That's because that's true. Anyway, he calls me in the middle of the night to tell me that his step mother's gone into labor." Beverly continues.

"Oh dear." Madison says.

"Yeah, he tells me that she refuses to go to the hospital because they won't be able to pay off the medical bills, and that he called me because I'm a nurse. So he tells me his address-" Beverly gets interupted.

"You didn't know his address?" Madison asks.

"No, it's a long story. Anyway, I rushed over and found his uncle Mike's trailer and knocked on the door-"

'Flashback' December 25, 1985 11:34 P.M.

"Who is it?" Shawn asked on the other side of the door.

"It's Beverly, Shawn." Beverly replied, and Shawn opened the door.

"I'll show you where she is." Shawn said, and lead her to a small room in the back of the trailer, and Beverly briefly wondered how 4 people could possibly live in this tiny trailer.

"Virna, this is Beverly, she's a nurse."

"Shawn, we can't afford a nurse." Virna said.

"Don't worry, I don't charge for my services." Beverly said, not bothering to tell her that she wasn't a nurse yet.

'End Flashback'

"She was in labor until about 4, Shawn held her hand the entire time, and then the baby was born. It was a little-"

'Flashback' December 26, 1985 4:12 A.M.

"Congratulations Virna, you are the mother to a beautiful baby girl." Beverly announced as the little girl's cries filled the room, and Beverly wrapped her in an old blanket and passed her to Virna.

"A girl... You're right, she's beautiful." Virna said, and she couldn't help but smile at the precious little girl in her arms.

"You got a name picked out?" Beverly asked.

"Actually, I was thinking..." Virna trailed off.

"What?" Beverly asked.

"Well, you've helped out so much with Shawn and you just rushed over her in the middle of the night to deliver a complete stranger's baby." Virna started.

"I was happy to do it." Beverly assured her.

"I was wondering if you'd name her." Virna said.

"What?" Beverly asked, shocked.

"It's the least I can do." Virna said.

"Um, okay." Beverly said, thinking about it a minute before answering. "Charlotte, Charlie for short."

"That's a lovely name, how did you think of it?" Virna asked.

"It was my dad and my brother's name." Beverly answered.

"Did you hear that Shawn? You have new baby sister named Charlie." Beverly said.

"I think he's asleep." Virna said. "Maybe we should wake him up and get him in bed."

"I think that's a good idea. Shawn, Shawn wake up." Beverly shook Shawn awake, and he rubbed his eyes.

"Is the baby born yet?" Shawn asked.

"It's a girl, her name is Charlie." Virna answered, and Shawn looked at his baby sister.

"Can I hold her?" Shawn asked.

"Sure honey, just be careful with her." Virna said.

"I will." Shawn said.

Beverly positioned Shawn's arms so that he could hold Charlie, and Virna placed her in Shawn's arms. Shawn's face lit up with what would soon be deemed his 'Charlie smile', and Charlie smiled back. Beverly and Virna couldn't help but smile too.

"I'll always protect you, I promise." Shawn whispered gently to Charlie. They all sat in contented silence until Beverly saw Shawn's eyes start to droop, and Beverly took Charlie.

"I think it's time for you and Charlie to get some sleep, so show me where you both sleep, please." Beverly said.

"Okay." Shawn said.

"You don't have to do that, Beverly." Virna said, almost panicked.

"I'll be right back." Beverly insisted, and Virna didn't have the energy to put up a fight.

Shawn led Beverly to his bedroom and opened the door. We already know that Shawn's room is about the size of a closet, but Beverly didn't.

"Is this your room?"

"Yeah, it's Charlie's now too." Shawn replied and there was a long pause while Beverly gathered her bearings.

"Um, where does Charlie sleep?" Beverly asked, almost afraid of the answer. Shawn pointed to a cardboard box lined with a blanket. "That's where she's going to sleep?" Beverly asked, unable to keep the disbelief out of her voice.

"Yeah, it's the same box I slept in when I was a baby." Shawn replied, and when Beverly didn't say anything, he started to ramble, a habit Beverly noticed he had when he's nervous. "It's a really nice box, I hardly ever got paper cuts when I slept in it. My dad never got a crib because (imitating Chet) 'Why buy a crib when you can get a perfectly good box for free?' He got it from a moving company. I put our best blanket in it..." Shawn trailed off, not being able to think of anything else to say about the box. Beverly saw how Shawn was, and tried to reassure him.

"Go ahead and get comfortable in your... Under your blanket. I'll get Charlie settled in her box." Beverly said.

"Okay." Shawn said, yawning. By the time Beverly got Charlie settled, Shawn was already half asleep under his raggedy old blanket. Beverly kissed Charlie's forehead and turned to Shawn.

"Goodnight sweetheart." Beverly kissed Shawn's forehead and started to leave.

"G'night Beverly." Shawn mumbled sleepily. Beverly went back to Virna.

"Shawn and Charlie are both asleep in bed." Beverly informed Virna, and Virna looked surprised.

"You got Shawn to sleep that fast? It always takes me an hour or two to get him asleep." Virna said.

"Well it is almost 5 in the morning." Beverly replied. "Where's Chet?" Beverly asked with an edge to her voice.

"Who knows these days?" Virna sighs. "You know, he's really not as bad as he seems, he's just a had a hard life. *His mom died giving birth to his sister when he was 6, his dad started getting drunk and beating him then when Chet was 12 he found him in his room with his brains blown out. Shawn's Uncle Mike took care of Chet and Patty after that... He's made a lot of mistakes, but I really do believe he's got a good heart, better than Shawn's mother anyway."

"What do you mean?" Beverly asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Chet had a one night stand with a stripper named Elaine McGinty and she turned up on his doorstep a month later telling him she was pregnant with his child. Elaine wanted him to pay for her to have an abortion, but Chet talked her out of it. She drank and smoked the whole time she was pregnant, and Shawn was born 10 weeks early... Shawn wasn't breathing and Chet took him to the hospital where they managed to stabilize him, when he went back to the trailer park 2 weeks later Elaine and his trailer were gone.*" Virna told Beverly, and Beverly had a look of utter disgust, rage, and disbelief frozen on her face.

"Not only did she take off on her husband and son, she left them homeless?" Beverly asked, Virna nodded. "That human piece of scum." Beverly bit out, when she noticed the time. "I guess I should head home now."

"Why don't you sleep on our couch?" Virna asked and Beverly started to protest but Virna cut her off. "I insist."

"Thank you." Beverly replied.

'End Flashback'

"And I fell asleep on there couch and after that I went to school." Beverly finishes.

"Wow... I'll get you home now so you can sleep." Madison says and Beverly smiles tiredly.

"Thanks, I really appreciate you listening." Beverly replies.

"No problem." Madison waves her off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it for the old stuff. Hopefully when I continue it'll be less cringey, sorry about how unrealistic this is but it'll get better, I promise :). Also, I'll edit this eventually but I'm currently working on fics in 3 other fandoms so it'll probably be a while. But I WILL be continuing this! 
> 
> Thank you for reading and please stay safe! Have a wonderful day❤

**Author's Note:**

> Poor Shawn, things will get better for him eventually. I promise!
> 
> As for my girl Beverly, I mentioned in the A/N at the start that she exists in canon. If y'all (whoever reads this) want to guess what I'm referencing in canon with her character, feel free to leave your answer in a comment below (here's a hint: the reference is in GIRL meets world by a BOY meets world character).
> 
> Speaking of comments, they are appreciated, but so are kudos and hits. If you're anything like me and your brain shuts down whenever you try to think of something to say, I understand, and appreciate your reading. Have a good day! :)


End file.
